World News Quick Take

Agencies

JAPAN

Donated cash left in toilet

An anonymous donor has left a wad of cash worth US$131,000 in a public toilet, with instructions it be used to help victims of the March earthquake and tsunami, an official said yesterday. A plastic shopping bag, containing ￥10 million, was found on Sept. 22 in a toilet for disabled people in the city hall of Sakado, a commuter town north of Tokyo, a city official said. The city will give the money to the Japanese Red Cross if the anonymous donor does not reclaim it within three months, city spokeswoman Masumi Sekiguchi said. She said a handwritten note was attached to the cash, reading: “I’m all alone. I have no future, so let the people in Tohoku use it.” Tohoku is the country’s northeast region devastated by the catastrophe that killed 20,000 people.

AFGHANISTAN

NATO troops, Afghans killed

Two Afghan policewomen and a civilian were killed by a mine on their way to work yesterday, a day after another five NATO soldiers died in the 10-year war against the Taliban. The policewomen and civilian died when their vehicle was blown up by a remote-controlled mine on their way to work at the civilian airport serving the western city of Herat, officials said.Three foreign soldiers were also killed by an improvised explosive device in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said, along with two others in separate incidents.

INDONESIA

Plane carrying 18 crashes

A small aircraft with 18 people on board crashed yesterday on Sumatra island, officials said. The Casa 212, carrying 15 passengers and three crew, left Medan city in North Sumatra at 7:18am bound for the nearby Aceh Province, before losing contact with air traffic control, transport ministry aviation head Herry Bakti said. “The plane crashed sometime between 7:28 and 8:05 this morning around Bohorok Mountain,” Bakti said. A search and rescue team has been dispatched to the site.

MYANMAR

Japanese tourist killed

A Japanese tourist has been killed and a motorcycle-taxi driver arrested on suspicion of her murder, a government official said yesterday. Chiharu Shiramatsu, 31, was killed on Wednesday near Kyaukpadaung, close to the ancient temple city of Bagan, after hiring the motorcycle taxi to go sightseeing, according to the authorities. “She was killed by a motorcycle-taxi driver who tried to rape her,” a government official who declined to be identified said. Min Theik, the 39-year-old motorcycle-taxi driver, was arrested at the scene. Violent crime involving foreign tourists is relatively rare in the country.

CHINA

Fugitive found in prison

A fugitive has been discovered working as a prison warden a decade after he went on the run to escape assault charges, the Beijing News reported yesterday. Wang Zhijia, 37, was accused of attacking his wife with a brick 10 years ago after the pair argued about a domestic issue. Police discovered this week that he was working at a prison in Anhui Province, the newspaper reported. Wang posed as his brother to get a job as an assistant with the police force in Anhui in 2008 and began working at the jail two months ago, it said. He was caught after police checks found that two people were using the same name and identity card number. Wang’s wife has since divorced him and married another man. She still suffers from headaches, amnesia and deafness, the report said.